Demonstrators to march to offices of "Friends of IDF" 60 E. 42nd ST. (Grand Central Station area).

More than a dozen Orthodox Jews are jailed with sentences over one year, for refusal to join the "Unholy Wars Against Humanity".

Yosef Levy, 20 years old sparked international interest just last Sunday following Israeli police attack on a solidarity demonstration on his behalf - with typical brutality, beatings, and arrests of 7 religious objectors, even including a well known rabbi.

“There are only two other countries in the world drafting citizens in peacetime,” said Rabbi Aron Jacobowitz, an organizer of the demonstration.

“Even they grant exemptions in reasonable circumstances – certainly for religious convictions.Here the Israeli police break into this boy’s home in the middle of the night, drag him out and throw him in jail for a year and a half, just because he doesn’t want to be influenced by the irreligious and immoral environment of the Israeli army.And this, at a time when the same Israeli army recently turned away 50,000 qualified recruits. Clearly, they don’t need the Orthodox – their only goal is to force them to abandon their beliefs.

“More fundamentally, religious Jews refuse to enlist because they are opposed to the State of Israel. According to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to create of a state of their own, or to fight wars. We will never serve in the military of a state that we don’t recognize.

“Young men like Yosef Levy are heroes – standing up for what is right and ignoring their own personal suffering. All of us need to come out in the streets and show our support for him.

“And to the Israeli government we say: Stop the brutality! Stop the cruelty! Orthodox Jews in the Holy Land have the right to refuse to take part in your actions.”